East European University of Economics and Management,
Cherkasy, Ukraine

PragmaticAspectsofTranslation

Pragmaticsoftranslation is a
wide notion which covers not only pragmatic meaning of a word, but some
problems connected with various levels of understanding by speech acts
communicants of certain meanings or messages,depending on linguistic or paralinguistic factors[6, 214],that is, background knowledge. A well-known linguist Konissarov
points out that pragmatic aspect of translation should be considered from three
points. One of them is conveying pragmatic meaning of words [2, 101]. This point
chiefly pertains to the translation of national realia and equivalent lacking
words that is, various names.

The
term pragmatic meaning of a word is
not yet fully investigated. But some linguists point out that the pragmatic
component of the word meaning, which is realized in various kinds of emotive
and stylistic connotations, is individually-occasional or collectively used
meanings [3,
43-44]. They reflect the conditions of a language unit use, the conditions such
as situation andplace of
communication, subject and purpose of communication; social, ethnic, and
individual peculiaritiesof
communicants, their attitude towards one another [1, 38-39] Irrespective of the
fact whether pragmatic aspects are singled out into a certain type of a word
meaning or whether it is considered among other components of its meaning,
pragmatic meaning, which is fixed in a word, plays an important role and its
retention ensures complete communicative adequacy of translation to the
original.

Pragmatics
as a linguistic term means the analysis of language in terms of the situational
context, within which utterances are made, including the knowledge and beliefs
of the speaker and the relation between speaker and listener [5, 1518].Pragmatic information is actualized in
translating the equivalent–lacking lexical units, first of all personal names,
geographical names, national realia by way of transcription and
transliteration.But in some cases,
while translating the names of states, boroughs, counties and provinces
explication of their implicit information is needed. For example: Georgia
– штат
Джорджія (США)(In case the context indicates that the author writes
or speaks about the USA)

Alberta
–
провінція Альберта (Канада)

Surrey– графство Сурей (Англія).

Explication
is also required in cases when one and the same name designates several notions:
ALBANY
– Олбані – поетична назва Шотландії

Олбані – чоловіча тюрма на острові Уайт (Англія)

Олбані – річка у центральній частині Канадu.

Олбані – порт і курортне місто у південно-західній
частині Австралії.

The
communicative situation at translating names having different meanings should
be also taken into consideration. Thus, the word LINCOLN may be used in
the following phrases: 1) He is from
Lincoln only last year – Він закінчив коледж Лінкольна (в Оксфорді) тільки минулого року. 2) Heparticipated
in Lincoln while a student – Коли він був студентом, він брав участь у скачках “Лінкольн”. 3) He owns Lincoln breeds – Він є володарем
лінкольнської породи довгошерстих вівців.

As a
rule, personal names are translated be means of transcription or transliteration
(or both combined). But when a proper name acquires the connotation as an
important pragmatic factor, it should be translated on a communicative but not
on a semantic level. Forexample:MIDAS– 1) Багата
людина;2)Людина, яка постійно
примножує багатство.

As to
the meaning of national realia it is more often than not rendered by means of
transcription or transliteration, but very often explication of their national
meaning is also necessary. Thus, kulish, borsh are rendered by way of
descriptive translation – thick meal cooked with grain. The same with the
English national realia Class list – список випускників
університету, які
отримали ступінь бакалавра звідзнакою;Classman – випускник університету,
який отримав ступінь бакалавра з відзнакою.

While
translating the names of national holidays the pragmatic approach is also
required. For example, Easter Monday
translated word-for-word does not give any notion of this holiday. Its
interpretation as перший понеділок після Пасхи is more understandable
for the Ukrainian recipient.

Some
additions in the translation help to make it more accurate and exact. For
example, Itwas Friday and soon they’d go out to get drunk. (Braine. Room at
the Top) In the Russian translation by Kudriavtseva and Ozers’ka the sentence
is Былапятница, деньполучки. Вскореэтилюдивыйдутнаулицуинапьются. For making this
information explicit it was necessary to add not only деньполучкиbut to explain that in Great
Britain the people receive payment weekly, on Friday.

There
are cases when generalization is used for replacing the proper name, usually of
shops, clubs, colleges, schools etc. For example: I could see my mother going in Warren’s Sports and Games – Я бачив, як моя мама заходила у спортивний магазин.

In some
cases the word which designates national realia is not important in the
semantic structure of the text. Then the translator may employ the method of
omission. For example: There were pills
and medicines all over the place and everything smelled like Vicks Nose Drops.
Vicks is the name of pharmaceutical
firm which products are not sold in Ukraine and they are unknown for the
Ukrainians. So, in translation it may be omitted.

Sociolinguistic
aspect of the theory of translation includes the consideration of translation
as socially determined communicative process, social norm of translation and
viewing translation as the reflection of a social world. The objects of
description are various kinds of socially conditioned pragmatic relations,
which determine the essence of translation as communicative act: pragmatics of
source text, which determinesits
functional type; pragmatics of target text, oriented to a different culture [4,
18]; orientation of the translator for meeting the requirements of the society,
that is, social norm of translation; pragmatics of the language units of both
source and target languages, the pragmatics, which is connected with stratification
and situational varieties of lexicon.

The
importance of socio linguistic factors for reaching adequacy of translation
can’t be underestimated. It may be illustrated by possible translations of the
personal pronoun you, which may be
translated as тиand ви. Pragmatic approach
to the analysis of the situation will show the translator the right way.

To sum
up the above said, it is necessary to stress the importance of the translator’s
background knowledge. That is, profound knowledge of history, culture, mode of
life of the country, the language of which he studies and is supposed to know
for being a good translator.

Translating
process reveals double pragmatic orientation. On one hand, it is realized
within inner lingual communication and thus being oriented to the original. On
the other hand, translation is a concrete speech act which is pragmatically
oriented to a certain recipient. Pragmatic task of the translation aims at
ensuring maximal equivalency with the original. Pragmatic aspect of the
translation is very important especially in translation of nationally-biased
units of lexicon.